Improvement in dies for making carriage-steps



W mmes. l Zwmm% lmprovemjent inV Dies for making Carriage Steps.

Patented Dec. 12, 1871.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS B. MORSE, OF PLANTSVILLE, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO H. D. SMITH&i CO., OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN DIES FOR MAKING CARRIAGE-STEPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 121,803, dated December12, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS B. MoRsE, of Plantsville, in the county ofHartford and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement inDies for Making Coach-Steps; and I do hereby declare the following, whentaken in connection with the accompanying drawing and the letters ofreference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, and which said drawing constitutes part of this specificationand represents, in-

Figure 1, a perspective view of the lower die; Fig. 2, a perspectiveview of the upper die; Fig. 3, a perspective view of the step formed inthe said dies; and in Fig. 4, a transverse section of the said step.

This invention relates to dies for the construction of steps known tothe trade as coach or platform steps; these are the steps which areformed upon or attached to the part of the carriage known as theplatform, but applicable alike to other positions on the carriage.

The form of the step to be produced is that shown in Fig. 3-that is, anopen step having parallel bars, upon which the foot rests. Both sides ofthe step are alike, so that it may be used either side up 5 consequentlythe bars are formed of an elliptical or oval form, as seen in Fig. 4;therefore, in constructing these steps it is necessary that the diespart near the middle of the step, as denoted in broken lines, Fig.ei-that is, one-half of the step formed in the lower die, the other halfin the upper die. The shank A, with which connection is made, issometimes made upon the side and sometimes upon the end, according tothe position of the step, here represented as on one side. The lower dieB, Fig. l, and the upper die C, Fig. 2, are substantially alike. Agroove, a, corresponds to the frame of the step, and longitudinalgrooves dto the bars in the step, a recess, f, corresponding to theposition for the shank.

The blank from which the step is to be Iormed having been previouslyheated and prepared, is placed on the lower die; the upper die struckdown thereon forces the metal into the recesses of the two dies andforms the step, as seen in Fig. 3. The previous preparation may be aflat piece of metal, which, when the dies are struck together, will beforced into the recesses, and the web which would necessarily remainbetween the bars subsequently cut away; or the blank may be formed innearly the required shape and completed in these dies. If a differentposition of the shank is required the recess j' must be arrangedaccordingly, and more or less bars proportionate to the size of the stepmay be made by adding to or taking from the dies corresponding grooves.

I am aware of the patent of Wilson W. Knowles, June 7, 1870, and do notwish to be understood as claiming anything therein contained.

1 claim as my invention- The dies B C, constructed in the mannerdescribed for forging coach or platform steps.

F. B. MORSE.

Witnesses:

J onN H. SHUMWAY,

A. J. TIBBITs. (31)

